OBJECTIVES: In recent years pharmaceutical market in Poland was impacted by the new Reimbursement Act that came into the force on 1^st January 2012. After a long period of stagnancy in pricing & reimbursement policy the new Act introduced substantial changes. It was strongly awaited by all stakeholders. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the new Reimbursement Act on pharmaceutical industry and market access. METHODS: Medline, grey literature and other internet resources (health authorities’ websites, pharmaceutical blogs and discussion forums) search focused on implications of the new drug regulation in Poland. RESULTS: The main objectives of the Reimbursement Act included improvement of pricing and reimbursement process transparency, increase in overall access to medicines and to innovative drugs in particular, lowering patients’ co-payment and reduction of National Health Fund (NFZ) spending on reimbursable drugs. However, in pharmaceutical industry opinion the reform did not increase transparency of reimbursement decision-making in Poland. While NFZ is considered to be the main beneficiary, industry revenue decreased. The new Act forced substantial adjustments in business models and incurred additional costs resulting from the need for intense monitoring of dynamically changing market situation. Access to innovative therapies is gradually improving with 29 innovative molecules introduced to reimbursement lists between January 2012 and June 2014. NFZ expenditure on innovative drugs increased from 0,2% to 3% of total drug expenditure between 2012 and 2014. In spite of some improvements, access to innovative therapies in Poland remains lower than in developed EU countries. CONCLUSIONS: New law influenced drug market substantially. It evoked many controversies and discussions. Overall, introduced changes are perceived as unfavorable by pharmaceutical industry. However, savings have been reallocated to fund new innovative therapies. Access to such therapies is slowly improving, but is still limited as compared to Western EU countries.